The invention relates generally to protective covers and shelters for watercraft and in particular to cantilever covers including canopy frames. Boaters who moor their boats to piers are universally faced with the task of repeatedly covering and then uncovering their watercraft between storage and use configurations. While seemingly simple, this task can be daunting and can greatly diminish enjoyment of the boating experience.
Individual covers exist for most watercraft, but have to be manually taken on and off with a combination of zippers, snaps, and center poles. This task can be time consuming and physically demanding, and, for people with dexterity disabilities, virtually impossible. Often times, boaters skip boating altogether because of the difficulty associated with manual covers. As an alternative, complex and costly mechanical boat cover lifts have been proposed, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,284 to Monroe provides a vertically lifting boat cover that may marginally reduce the hassle involved in covering and uncovering, but without, as in the present invention, providing full access to the boat while covered. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,252 to Caravella provides a liftable boat cover, but requires driving supports that span the mooring area. U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,769 to Unrast provides a cantilevered liftable canopy, which addresses the need to span the mooring area, but still requires complex mechanical action to use and does not provide access to the watercraft without lifting the canopy.
Another alternative is covered boat lifts, which lift the vehicle up into a stationary canopy. Depending on the means of providing power, this activity can be difficult, such as during power outages or when the pulley mechanism has malfunctioned, leaving the boater to temporarily revert back to individual covers. Additionally, this alternative is relatively expensive, both for the initial investment, as well as the ongoing seasonal installation done most often with barges and cranes. Lastly, the lift stations are a disruption to the natural environment, as while in the water they disturb the lake bed with underwater supports and resting pads, and during the off-season are placed helter-skelter along the shorelines, diminishing the public's use and enjoyment of the waterfront.
The present invention addresses this problem by providing a seasonally installed cantilevered canopy that may be affixed to and easily installed from the pier or dock. The canopy of the present invention is easily installed and removed for seasonal use, and it offers protection without mechanical parts or power to operate. By comparison, existing modular canopies, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,972 to Markiewicz, require either opposing supports spanning the mooring area or obstructive cross-bracing on the pier (see Markiewicz at FIG. 1, wherein the posts 14 would either span a mooring area or be in-line with a pier, if the structure shown were used to shelter watercraft). The present invention's cantilevered design avoids the need to have a spanning support and the need for obstructive cross-bracing.